16-Oct-2019

Sobantu, Mziwandile (DLitt et Phil)
Mzwandile Sobantu obtained his BSW and a Master’s in Housing degrees from the
University of the Witwatersrand. He worked as a foster care social worker at Joburg
Child Welfare before joining the Gauteng Department of Social Development as a
social worker, under the People with Special Needs (PWSN) directorate. While
there, he enrolled for his doctorate degree in 2015, and in 2016 he joined the
University of Johannesburg as a lecturer. He lectures social development, group
work and coordinates internship. Mzwandile has presented on his research in
several conferences and seminars, in South Africa, Africa and in Europe. He has
published articles in local and international journals, and also co-authored a book
chapter.
In this study, Mzwandile relied on intellectual heuristics to bring knowledge from
different academic disciplines of housing policy, social policy and social
development. His qualitative study involved the National Department of Human
Settlements (NDoHS) and voluntary housing institutions (VHIs) in Gauteng and
Western Cape provinces. These efforts were intended to interrogate the social
development benefits of VHIs to the beneficiaries. He showed a deep
understanding of the fields of housing, voluntary housing and social development in
his pursuit of developing bottom-up pathways to housing delivery in the country.
Weaving and analysing information and data from policy developers at NDoHS,
managers of VHIs and beneficiaries, Mzwandile arrived at useful insights and
recommendations for integrating pro-poor voices into housing policy and
implementation. The rigour process culminated in a model, whose principles and
ethos contribute to the NDoHS agenda of creating viable, sustainable and
integrated human settlements for the poor and vulnerable populations in South
Africa.
Supervisor: Prof N Noyoo
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